Poems (Spofford)/Mayflowers

For works with similar titles, see Mayflower.
MAYFLOWERS.
I fancy in my buried race
Some Puritan, far-off and dim,
Who left in me no other trace
Than love of what was dear to him.

Through richer veins his blood has flowed,
But every spring its pulse I feel
When, in the ruts of Seabrook road,
By the first Mayflower's sod I kneel.

For scarcely could this wild perfume
Enrapture so my soul and sense,
If, quick with that ethereal bloom,
Thrilled not anew the influence

When all his spirit's icy death—
The first long winter's chill despair—
Was blown on by this tender breath,
And vanished in immortal air.